2020 OFC Nations Cup

2020 OFC Nations Cup
Tournament details
Host countryNew Zealand
DatesCancelled (originally 6–20 June)
Teams8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)2 (expected) (in 1 host city)
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The 2020 OFC Nations Cup was originally to be the 11th edition of the OFC Nations Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Oceania organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) scheduled for 6 to 20 June 2020.[1]

The tournament was originally to be hosted by New Zealand, whose bid was chosen by the OFC on 10 January 2020.[2] A total of eight teams would compete in the final tournament.[3] New Zealand were the defending champions.

On 21 April 2020, OFC announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the difficulty in rescheduling to another date in the FIFA International Match Calendar, the tournament would be cancelled.[4]

Qualification

All 11 FIFA-affiliated national teams from OFC were eligible to enter the tournament.

A qualification round was originally scheduled to be played by four teams between 21 and 27 March 2020 at the CIFA Academy Field in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, where the winners would join the seven automatic qualifiers in the final tournament.[3] However, the OFC announced on 9 March 2020 that all OFC tournaments were postponed until 6 May 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,[5] before the tournament was cancelled.

Teams which were originally to directly qualify for final tournament
Team Finals appearance
(planned) 		Previous best performance
 Fiji 9th Third Place (1998 & 2008)
 New Caledonia 7th Runner-up (2008 & 2012)
 New Zealand (Hosts & Holders) 11th Winner (1973, 1998, 2002, 2008 & 2016)
 Papua New Guinea 5th Runner-up (2016)
 Solomon Islands 8th Runner-up (2004)
 Tahiti 10th Winner (2012)
 Vanuatu 10th Fourth Place (1973, 2000, 2002 & 2008)
Teams which were originally to enter qualifying
Team Finals appearance
(planned if qualified) 		Previous best performance
 American Samoa 1st None
 Cook Islands (Qualifying Hosts) 3rd Sixth Place (1998 & 2000)
 Samoa 3rd Eighth Place (2012 & 2016)
 Tonga 1st None

Venues

The tournament was expected to be held in Auckland, with North Harbour Stadium and The Trusts Arena the likely venues.

Auckland
North Harbour Stadium The Trusts Arena
Capacity: 25,000 Capacity: 4,901

References

  1. ^ "FIFA International Match Calendar" (PDF). FIFA. October 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 June 2020. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  2. ^ "New Zealand Football successful with bid to host the 2020 OFC Nations Cup". Stuff. 10 January 2020.
  3. ^ a b "OFC Nations Cup 2020 host confirmed". Oceania Football Confederation. 15 January 2020.
  4. ^ "OFC Nations Cup 2020 cancelled". Oceania Football Confederation. 21 April 2020.
  5. ^ "OFC tournaments, workshops, training and courses postponed until 6 May". OFC. 9 March 2020.